thoughts and ideas for a more organic life

How do I Get my Kids to Eat Healthier?

The best way to get your kids to eat healthier is to start when they are just beginning to eat solid food. Eating healthy is just like any other habit. If you start young and do it regularly, it forms a habit and could be part of your life for the entirety of your life. Most kids are started off on a diet of zero nutrition powdered cereal, sweet fruit sauces, Cheerios and other such things. The key is to develop a taste for foods that are not sweet, foods that expand their horizons, and foods that are nutrition packed. Egg yolk, pureed liver, mashed organic vegetables, yogurt, raw milk and a limited amount of pureed organic fruits would be the ideal diet for a baby just starting to eat solids.

As your kids get older and are sitting on their own at the table, start serving meals in courses. When kids sit down to eat they are hungry of course, because wise mom has not let them eat snacks between meals. Start by serving the course that may be their least favorite, or is the most healthful. For example, do start with the salad course, the hungry kids are more likely to eat it, and follow with the meat and vegetables, and if they have any room left in their tummies, a small piece of bread and a small amount of dessert for a treat. If you serve them a big plate full of salad, bread, and main course what do you think the typical child will do? They will eat the bread, pick at the meat and vegetables, and leave the salad.

Kids also like to get involved in the preparation of the food. It takes some patience on the part of the parents, but let your kids stand on a chair and watch, or scatter the carrots into the salads, or sprinkle the salt and pepper on the steak, or stir the pasta sauce. It is exciting for them, gets them excited about food and preparation, and if they learn to cook they are less likely to resort to pre-packaged food in their future lives.

What we feed our children will affect them until they die. It will determine their quality of life, what diseases they will acquire or avoid, and teach and train them to make good, healthy choices that will benefit them, and their progeny for future generations.